The real life Jungle Book

Panic. Silence. Nerves. Awareness. The air is thick with it. Deers fleeing in every direction. A sudden movement in the bushes. A subtle crack. An orange paw appears. Then another. The queen of the jungle. As the sun is slowly setting, the tiger comes out to search for its prey. Slowly scouting the surroundings, she crosses the road and heads into the bushes. Hidden from view. The moment lasted 30 seconds, 40 at most. It was my introduction to the real life jungle book. Kabini national park. She would reappear again later on though. Just as majestic as during his first appearance. Seeing a tiger in the wild is a unique experience. One is not really prepared for a moment like that. It is so powerful. So dominant somehow. It was my first time seeing a tiger in the wild, and it was just as amazing as I had hoped it would be.

To be fair, my introduction to the jungle started a few hours prior to my tiger encounter. After a couple of stressful days I had finally made it to the jungle. I had a beautiful safari tent on the edge of the river, and as I made my way around the tent to check out everything I saw it. I was in the bathroom, about to turn off the light and just next to the light switch, a huge spider was sitting. at first I thought it wasn’t real, a trick to make me scared. It was too big to be real surely. The size of my palm easily. I tried to poke it, to see if it moved. It did.. I panicked a little to be honest. Not sure how to get it out, as I didn’t know if it was poisonous. Also, I didn’t want to go screaming about, to make a fool of the only westerner in the camp. Somehow I managed to get it on to my slipper, using a tea letter. I went for the door in order to throw it out, and was greeted by Yashas, an amazing wildlife photographer. He took a look at my slipper, laughed and said “Welcome to the jungle”. I couldn’t help but laugh a little myself.

It was the beginning of an amazing trip. With stories of tigers and leopards occasionally roaming around the tents at night. Of some of the most dangerous snakes in the world, living close by and often seen in camp. And of the tigers rummaging around the nearby rural village. Which happened during my trip.

I was amazed to see how the villagers lived basically in the jungle. Life there was extremely basic. Buffalo kettles were used to move around. Villagers were often seen guiding a pack of cows down the street to start their daily work. Huge trucks filled with bananas, plucked from the surrounding fields drove through the jungle to make their deliveries. What amazed me the most were the colors and smiles that greeted me though. Everything was so colorful. And the people I encountered always had a smile on their face. It’s amazing how far a smile gets you. But I digress. This is about my trip into the jungle with wildlife photographer Yashas (@yashasnarayan).

Kabini is beautiful. There is no other way to put it. On day two of my trip, as we drove through the jungle, I felt like being in a fairytale land. As the sun slowly started rising, the fog was painted in a lush yellow, and light rays started appearing everywhere. It is one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever witnessed. In wildlife photography, patience plays a huge part. And we needed a lot of that in our search for the big cats. This was my first time doing wildlife photography, and I quickly realized that, as with landscape photography, the difference between a good photo and a great photo, often comes down to composition. So I started to look for lines and patterns in my search for beautiful photos, and I think that I was able to capture quite a few.
Getting good photos in Kabini wasn’t difficult though, as the surrounding were so incredible.

The jungle was filled with opportunities when it came to photographing wildlife, and as my main reason for coming had been the big cats, I quickly started loving the challenge of photographing the smaller animals as well.

During our sunrise missions, we often had a layer of fog creating some beautiful scenes, with very soft looking photos. Animals were everywhere, so it was all about trying to be creative in your hunt for good photos.

I managed to capture everything I wanted, except for the Black Panther, but I knew that would be a challenge, as it hadn’t been spotted for a while.

Around every turn a new scene unfolded, and a potential for a good photo appeared. It could be a leopard, lazily laying in a tree. A peacock crossing the road, or monkeys playfully running around.
I had ten safaris in total, and every one of them brought something new and exciting. Every time I managed to capture something great, I barely had time to look at my camera before the next moment appeared.

The staff in the jungle use a combination of footprints, and listening for sounds, when tracking the wildlife. The animals have certain sounds they make when the big cats are nearby, which when heard, can often make for some tense moments. Everyone is looking for movements, listening to the sounds of the jungle, and maybe, one gets lucky, and one of the big cats will appear from the forest.

Kabini really is the real life Jungle Book. When driving through the forest, I couldn’t help but think of the story of Mowgli, and how Kabini resembles it. The only thing Kabini doesn’t have from the famed story is the temple. It was like stepping into the real life Jungle Book. And I loved it. I enjoyed very moment and I believe that I also developed as a photographer.
Wildlife photography is something I have never tried before. It was a completely new genre of photography, but I enjoyed the challenge.

It was an amazing experience, and even though I didn’t get to see the panther, i would go back and do it all over in a heartbeat. I will be back for sure, trying to catch some even better photos, and hopefully catch a glimpse of the panther.
I did manage to see tigers, a leopard, elephants, wild dogs, eagles, monkeys kingfishers and much more, so I can’t really complain! Besides, I’m really happy for the photos I got away with, so to say it was a huge success would be an understatement. It was much more than that!

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